Assembling This Stool Could Drive a Wedge Between You and It

This stool, created by designers at the Italian design studio MID, is put together by a wedge, driven right through its heart. Well, through its centre, at least; just like the old-fashioned axel with which it shares a name.

The natural Ash legs of the Axel Stool, which look as though they could have been slit from a single log using a heavy axe, are fixed in place with a matching wooden cross that has to be driven in with a mallet. Get it right, and the five elements (four legs and the wedge) should fit pleasingly flush with the table's metal surface. Get it wrong, and you'll have an uncomfortable spot beneath your bum; a less literal, but perhaps more noticeable, wedge between you and it. The stool will be on show during Milan Design Week in April. [MID via DesignBoom]